Christian Watson injury update: When will Packers WR return after ACL rehab? First details here
Packers extended WR Christian Watson on a 1-year, $13.25M deal as he recovers from a torn ACL. He’ll likely miss 2025 and aim for a 2026 return.
The Green Bay Packers on Tuesday extended injured wide receiver Christian Watson on a one-year, $13.25 million deal, which will keep him in Wisconsin through the 2026 season.
Watson is currently recovering from a torn ACL he picked up in the 2024-25 regular-season finale—Week 18—on January 5, during a non-contact play against the Chicago Bears.
The ACL injury to the wide receiver is serious, and he will most likely not feature for Green Bay for most of this season. Adam Schefter, ESPN's Senior NFL Insider, who reported the news of Watson's extension, citing his agent, said that the new deal will allow the 26-year-old to focus on his recovery and return to play in the 2026 season.
At the end of this season, Watson would have run out his rookie contract he signed after being drafted out of North Dakota State University by Green Bay in the 2022 NFL draft.
Latest On Christian Watson's Injury
The latest update on Christian Watson's injury is from August 12, when it was reported that Watson is expected to start the 2025-25 NFL season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, which means he is definitely not available from Week 1 to Week 4.
An update on the wide receiver's status could be expected after that. Green Bay Packers head coach Brian Gutekunst had said in August that Watson is "ahead of the curve" with his ACL recovery.
"He's ahead of the curve, no doubt about it, but, at the same time, he's got a long career in front of him so we're going to make sure we don't skip any steps along the way," Gutekunst said. "More than likely, he'll start the year on PUP."
Also read: Who is Ronika Stone-Love? Jordan Love's wife gets sweet nickname from Packers fans
Christian Watson's Injury History
Since being drafted in the 2022 season, Christian Watson's NFL career has been plagued by injuries. While he was relatively injury-free in the 2022-23 season, his first in the league, next season onwards, injuries were a constant for the wide receiver.
In the 2023 season, he was inactive for the majority of the 2023 season with a hamstring injury that nagged on. He got intermittent starts and ended up playing just nine games. He received 422 yards with five touchdowns in 2023, which was in sharp contrast with his rookie season when he recorded 611 yards of reception for nine touchdowns.
As the 2024 season started, a nagging hamstring injury kept him out of Weeks 1 and 2, but he returned to play in 15 games that season. but he could not reach the glory of his rookie season. He recorded 29 receptions for 620 yards with two touchdowns. He got injured in Week 18 of the 2024-25 season and has yet to make it to the field since.
